Irish format wins Nordic World Pitch

Irish indie Waka's The Men Pen, a studio dating game show format, has been named as the winner of the third annual Nordic World Pitch event.

Irish indie Waka’s The Men Pen, a studio dating game show format, has been named as the winner of the third annual Nordic World Pitch (NWP) event.

This year’s NWP, held by the program sales alliance Nordic World in Denmark, marks the first time the pitch has been open to producers outside the Nordic region. The winning pitch earns a distribution deal with Nordic World and a guaranteed pilot.

Previous winners include Intervisio Oy’s The Wall, which is currently licensed to MTV3 Finland;and Teddy TV’s Move On, which has been piloted in the Nordics, the UK, U.S. and Canada.

“It struck me that Irish independent producers had a huge amount in common with their Nordic counterparts,” said Jan Salling, chief operating officer and director of sales of Nordic World.

“Both operate in fiercely competitive markets with a finite pool of clients on very limited budgets so can often be forced into short-termist thinking. The NWP allows the space and time to be able to directly pitch the freshest ideas that otherwise might not see the light of day, never mind global roll out.”

Warren Meyler, executive producer of Waka, added: “Up against such strong competition it’s genuinely a huge honor for The Men Pen to have been selected as winner of the 2013 Nordic World Pitch.

“We very much look forward to working with Jan and his team getting The Men Pen to air and building on the relationships forged with production companies from across the Nordic region during our time in Copenhagen.”